Some people say: "Poetry is invisible painting, painting is invisible poetry". The ancient literati liked to "draw with a brush, and export into chapters", and these are the records and praises of the beautiful things by the ancients.

It can be seen that the ancients were also a group of "cute people" who were obsessed with describing and recording. This is so that not only the calligraphy and famous paintings have various inscriptions and seals on them, but also the marks of their past owners on the guqin.

In addition to materials, inlays and fringes, the parts of the surface that can be called decorations include "decorative patterns", "inscriptions" and "broken patterns".

decorative pattern

Traditional Chinese decorations generally use brown and black as the background, supplemented by dark red, and painted in vermilion and yellow, making the whole picture appear calm and noble. The surface of the guqin is generally patterned with animals and plants, and most of the patterns are auspicious birds and auspicious animals, with dragons and phoenixes being the most common.

Now the master of the qin is very rare, and the handed down famous qin is even rarer. Now the pattern of the piano surface is single, and it has gradually changed from a variety of styles to a single and simple style. The beauty and timelessness, profound meaning and rich connotation reflected by the decorative patterns of the guqin are gradually disappearing.

Inscription:

Most of them are qin names, inscriptions and Tibetan seals, which can best reflect the humanistic charm of guqin. The name of the piano, one type is named after the beautiful things in nature and life; the other is the name of the piano with the sublime realm of life. There are inscriptions, poetry and prose, revealing the quality of the qin and expressing his pursuit of the ideal realm; there are also records of the experience of obtaining the qin. Tibetan seals are mostly the nicknames and names of the collectors or those who inscribed on the qin.

For example: the famous qin "Jiuxiao Peihuan", there are four characters "Jiuxiaohuanpei" carved in small seal script (used since the 3rd century BC) above the dragon pond on the back of the qin; The font) reads "Ling Ranxi Taigu", next to it is written "Shimengzhai Collection" in smaller font, and there is a side of "Shimengzhai Seal". The left side of Longchi is engraved in slightly large regular script (standardized in the 3rd century) with "Super Trace Cangxiao Xiaoyao Taiji" and the signature of Huang Tingjian, a famous poet in the Northern Song Dynasty. There is a small seal script under the dragon pond, which "includes" the big seal. The signature of the famous poet Su Shi and a short poem are engraved in regular script below the big seal: The spring breeze is delicate, and the sound is ringed. The curtains of new swallows, the sea of old dragons.

broken grain

The surface of the guqin has various broken lines due to the weathering and vibration during playing, which just shows the historical sense and beauty of the guqin, and it is also a natural decoration.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Ju Long recorded in "Qin Bi": "Guqin is evidenced by broken patterns, which have not lasted for hundreds of years. There are plum blossoms, whose patterns are like plum blossoms, which are the oldest; There are hundreds of snakes; there are snakes that are broken, and the patterns are horizontal to the surface of the qin, and they are one inch or half an inch away from each other; there are dragons that are broken, and their round heads are large; there are turtles that are broken, and the ice cracks vary." Guqin of different ages The broken patterns are different. For example, the guqin in the late Tang Dynasty was mostly broken by the snake’s belly and the plum blossom;

For example: the famous qin "Duyou", built in the late Tang Dynasty, the style of the qin is "spiritual style", usually 120.4 cm, the width of the forehead is 20 cm, and the width of the tail is 15 cm. Because the production is quite standard, it is regarded as an authentic Tang qin. One of the three standard devices. There are 5 kinds of broken lines on the body of the guqin, including snake belly broken, cattle hair broken, flowing water broken, tortoise pattern broken, plum blossom broken, especially the rare "plum blossom broken", which shows the long history of this guqin.

Every decoration on the guqin is not only an expression of the mood of the winner, but also has historical value, helping future generations to confirm the origin of the guqin.